10 Mar Book Review: The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

Greek mythology has always been full of larger-than-life heroes, tragic fates, and epic battles, but for every Odysseus, Achilles, or Theseus, there are women left in the margins, their stories reduced to footnotes or background details. The Penelopiad is Margaret Atwood’s attempt to change that. It’s a sharp, clever, and darkly humorous reimagining of The Odyssey, told from the perspective of Penelope, Odysseus’s wife, who has spent thousands of years in the underworld with nothing but time to reflect on the life she lived—and the injustices she endured.

What’s it about?

Everyone knows Odysseus’s story—the cunning Greek hero who survived a decade of war, outwitted gods and monsters, and spent ten more years trying to return home while facing trials from both the divine and mortal world. But what about Penelope? What was she doing during those twenty years?

In this version, Penelope tells her own side of the story, and it’s very different from the one told by Homer. From the afterlife, she looks back on her youth, her marriage to Odysseus, and the long years she spent waiting for him to return. She recalls how she was married off as a political pawn, how she learned to survive in a court full of scheming nobles, and how she was left behind when her husband sailed off to war.

The most significant part of her story, though, is what happened after Odysseus came home. The Odyssey tells us that upon his return, he slaughtered all 100+ suitors who had been trying to marry Penelope in his absence. He also had twelve of her maids executed, claiming they had been disloyal and slept with the enemy.

In The Penelopiad, Atwood gives these twelve maids a voice, weaving their perspective throughout the book in haunting, poetic chorus-like interludes. They question whether they truly deserved their fate, whether Penelope could have saved them, and whether the so-called heroic story of Odysseus is as noble as history claims.

What This Chick Thinks

Penelope is more than just the “faithful wife”

In The Odyssey, Penelope is mostly defined by her patience and loyalty. She waits, weaves and unweaves her loom, fends off suitors, and is ultimately rewarded when her husband finally comes home. Here, though, she is given something she never had in Homer’s version—a voice.

Atwood’s Penelope is sharp, introspective, and deeply cynical. She acknowledges her flaws, her regrets, and the fact that she wasn’t always the perfect, obedient wife history remembers. She isn’t telling her story as an all-powerful feminist icon, but as a woman who played the game the only way she knew how in a world where she had almost no control over her fate.

Her take on Odysseus is particularly fascinating—she respects his intelligence but also sees him for what he was: a charming liar, a man whose skill at deception made him both legendary and dangerous. She never quite knows if she can trust him, even when she loves him.

The twelve maids steal the show

One of the most brilliant aspects of this book is how Atwood integrates the perspective of the twelve maids who were hanged upon Odysseus’s return. In the Odyssey, their deaths are barely an afterthought, an execution carried out for the sake of justice. Here, they become a Greek chorus, interrupting Penelope’s narrative with songs, poems, and courtroom-style interrogations, demanding answers for their fate.

Their sections are often darkly playful, but they also carry a raw, angry energy, forcing the reader to question whether Odysseus’s heroic tale was really as clean and justified as it seems. It’s an incredibly effective way of exposing how history erases those who weren’t powerful enough to have a voice.

The writing is classic Atwood—witty, sharp, and quietly devastating

Margaret Atwood has this way of writing that feels effortless but hits hard. She blends humor and tragedy in a way that makes the book feel light even when it’s saying something deeply unsettling. The language is modern, and Penelope’s narration often feels like she’s telling the story over drinks, full of casual sarcasm and self-deprecation. But beneath the wit, there’s a deep sadness—a woman who realizes that, despite everything, her fate was never really in her own hands.

Final Thoughts

The Penelopiad is a small book, but it packs a punch. It takes one of the oldest stories ever told and flips the perspective, reminding us that history is often written by the winners—and the dead rarely get to tell their side. It’s biting, poetic, and unexpectedly funny, but at its core, it’s about women who were never given the chance to shape their own narratives.

If you love Greek mythology but also love questioning the way these ancient stories have been told, this book is well worth your time.

Rating: 9/10

Try it if you like

• The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker – Another feminist retelling of Greek mythology, focusing on the women who were treated as spoils of war in The Iliad.
• A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes – A retelling of the Trojan War from multiple female perspectives, including goddesses, queens, and slaves.
• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller – Another deeply human take on a well-known myth, this time focusing on Achilles and Patroclus.